My first tweet was at the CMT Awards when I won an award and typed, 'Thank you.' Then I was hooked because the followers started multiplying. It's a great tool.
Somebody with a billion followers can tweet, 'See my movie,' and it can still tank. Followers don't always translate into success because I think people are too savvy. When something takes off, it's because people are connecting to it - not because someone with a lot of followers says to care about it.
The reality is that we have all these awards and all these festivals that give out awards, so you sort of go, 'okay, well, people liked the film, and I think it's a good film, and it's up for an award - well, I guess it should win the award then.'
Though I was nominated for awards for films like 'Tezaab' and 'Apna Sapna Money Money' but I never won an award. Now I am not even nominated for any awards but still I attend the award functions as I love being there despite figuring prominently in a lot of leg pulling that goes around in the award ceremonies.
Being typed is not important. For a while vou are typed as one thing. You get out of that. Then you are typed as something else. You can break away from everything except comedy. It's fatal to be typed as a comedian. You can't get out of that.
I find awards frivolous. When I began my career, I was told that I deserved an award for a certain performance, but then I couldn't turn up on the day of the show. Then I was told that the award went to someone else. That's when I realised the truth behind it all.
Just because something is typed-whether it is typed on a business card or typed in a newspaper or book-this does not mean that it is true.
It is a great honor for me to be presented the award by Mikhail Gorbachev and also to be acknowledged with the World Actress Award at the Women World Awards Gala 2005.
The whole awards thing is great. Why? Because the Golden Globes, the Academy Awards, they put a focus on the industry, and that focus translates into people buying tickets to see movies or download films, legitimately download them. And it keeps us all at work. So I'm a big fan of award shows.
When we were at the CMT Awards this year, Robert Plant was there. What an icon, I love him... But I can't go up and speak to him, because I don't want to seem like a goob.
With an award like the Asian Film Awards, we've sent a message saying that 'Asian Cinema is here, it matters, and more importantly, we are all part of the same fraternity!' The AFA is truly, then, an award for Asia, by Asia.
Awards were made in Hollywood, in whatever the time it was created. They're to promote each other's movies. You give me an award, I give you an award and people will believe that we are great movies and they'll go to see them. It's still the same.
The British Fashion Awards are also very important because it's my hometown. But it's really a recognition of my team, and those awards give me an opportunity to thank them in a formal way. You and I have worked together enough to know that it really isn't about two people. It's a whole team. And so it's great to acknowledge that you never do anything alone.
Not many of us will be leaders; and even those who are leaders must also be followers much of the time. This is the crucial role. Followers judge leaders. Only if the leaders pass that test do they have any impact. The potential followers, if their judgment is poor, have judged themselves. If the leader takes his or her followers to the goal, to great achievements, it is because the followers were capable of that kind of response.
There might be people who have never even tweeted before who are just working on their great American tweet. It will be so good that we'll all have to stop Twitter right away. I would like to write the great American tweet. I don't think the great American tweet has been written yet. We'd know.
I have won so many awards including the Padma Shri and Arjuna Award. But all these awards do not carry the kind of prestige they did once.
The first time I received an award, I was very surprised. I did not know whether to accept it or not. But I came to the conclusion that I should accept awards in the name of the poorest poor, as a form of homage to them. I think that basically, when awards are given to me, the existence of the poor in the world is being recognized.